Ascendancy
by wierdsquirrelgirl
Summary: Jack didn't want to want to do this. He never asked for this. Yet here he was, standing over the ruble of all he ever knew. "Jack, this is the start of something glorious." a laugh, "You, are the start, of something glorious." AU, OC, minor JackXArcee.


**Ascendancy**

There was a young man in grey standing at the side of a wide door. He was holding a long gun vertical to his body, his back was straight, and his knees were locked. All this gave the perfect picture of a soldier standing in attention.

Except, of course, for the ever slight nodding of his head.

It had been a long day, a long boring day. The man who was supposed to take his shift had an accident, so he ended up on guard duty for twice as long as he should have been. It was getting to be night, and he still had yet to eat dinner. All this combined made for a very tired man.

The halls were so silent; no one ever came to this part of the base, or this door, for that matter. It was a communication room that was never used. Slowly but surely, he felt his eyes falling.

Then hysteric voices came up right next to him, a flock of men coming down the hall, almost running. In the middle of them was his leader, a man known as Silas.

They came right up and right past him. Their frantic voices muffled through the door he was guarding. He could almost make out what they were saying when they suddenly went silent. The young soldier just stared for a few minutes. He looked left, then right, then back at the door, as if it could provide the answer for what just happened.

He crept up, and put his ear next to the door. This is what he heard.

'_-gentlemen - come to my attention-' _Said an oddly female voice.

'_-the Autobots – strong - …not expected' _That was Silas.

'_-waste of – running out'_

'_need more time – coming to fruition – almost there'_

'_getting impatient – coming over- expect results' _Then all was silent again.

Just as he resumed his post, everyone came out the door. General Silas was shouting, his attendants were cowering, and just like that they rounded the corner and disappeared as quickly as they came.

The young soldier just stared for a bit, his head caught in a cloud of sorts, wondering what the heck just happened. Then he shook himself out of it, thinking that it was none of his business, and continued his vigil. It must have been another impatient investor, he reasoned. In his mind he was thinking of telling this story to his friends, laughing a bit at the peculiarity of it all.

Little did this little soldier know just how important that event was.

* * *

"No."

"Come on"

"No!"

"Please"

"Bulkhead, I am not about to risk my tools to one of your useless endeavors."

"It's not useless Ratchet, if I get this right-"

"Bah-bah, not another word"

"But Ratchet," a small voice piqued up "You'll like this too, you're always complaining about our music,"

"Yes, I am. That 'music' as you call is-"

Such was the state of the Autobot base that Sunday morning. Jack looked on as Miko and Bulkhead tried to convince Ratchet to let them soundproof one of the rooms. How they would do it even with Ratchet's tool, he simply didn't know, but it was funny none the less. Over in the corner Raf and Bumblebee were playing a racing game with a toy car. His mother was in another corner talking with Optimus about something, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. As for him, he was sitting on the couch going over his math homework for the last time, making sure everything was in order.

Overall, it had been a rather pleasant day. In fact, it had been a pleasant week, nothing major happening at all. The 'bots made a good energon raid last month in an old silver mine, enough to last them for many months more. For once everyone was enjoying a real sense of peace, and they were taking advantage of it. While they knew this wouldn't last forever, everyone was happy to enjoy each moment.

"_For the last time, _NO!"

Well, almost everyone.

Optimus looked up from June to see the commotion; he just sighed and walked over, prepared to talk down an angry Ratchet and dissuade an excited Miko and Bulkhead.

Suddenly the monitor started beeping. Everyone turned around to see Agent Fowler on the screen. For some reason the video was blurry and his voice was muffled.

"Autobots, come in. Can you hear me?"

"We hear you agent. What's happening?" Optimus spoke, walking to the monitor.

"Good, I called to tell you that the pentagon has been getting some intel on M.E.C.H."

The base went dead silent. Everyone's eyes widened, their backs straightened as they listened in. Optimus' own eyes narrowed as he spoke.

"What kind of intel, Agent Fowler?"

"I can't say for certain, but our sources say there has been a major upheaval in M.E.C.H. recently. Everyone is in an alarm for reasons we cannot distinguish."

Well, that was never good, but…

"While this seems like a very weighty matter indeed Agent, what has it to do with us?"

"Optimus, we have reason to believe that M.E.C.H, in their turmoil, may become desperate to try to capture one of you."

"I see, this is troubling "

"Yes, now Optimu-"

"Hey Fowler, not to be rude, but why's your face all fuzzy." Before the agent could answer, Rafael chirped in.

"Haven't you heard Miko? There's been some major solar flares today, happens every fifty years. Everything's become screwy."

"Oh, well then why haven't any of the 'bots been affected?"

Then Ratchet came in and began to explain with great scorn just why that couldn't happen, meanwhile Optimus said his goodbyes to Fowler and signed out. Jack sat back down on the couch, having stood up at the mention of the loathed terrorist group. His mind was in a flurry of thoughts and feelings, worry for his friends being the foremost. Arcee saw this and walked over to her partner.

"Don't worry Jack. We're prepared for them."

"Are we? You heard Fowler; they're beginning to get desperate. Desperate people do desperate things."

"Maybe, but we're still prepared. Even as we speak the base's security is being amped up."

Jack looked around; what Arcee said was true. Ratchet had finished his speech, and had begun to type furiously at his computer. Smokescreen was tampering with some wires in the wall, and Optimus was talking to bumblebee about watch rotations.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still they're…"

"M.E.C.H"

"Yeah, they're M.E.C.H, and they're crafty."

"Well, all we can do is be prepared for anything then. Worrying does nothing. Still, doesn't hurt to be on guard."

"Yeah, ok, thanks."

"No problem. Speaking of on guard, I have to take you and your mom home tonight. I can't leave you two alone with all these nuts around going crazy."

"Thanks Arcee. I'll tell my mom that." With that he started walking to his mother, who was already walking up the stars to see him. Arcee smiled at this, but then her smile fell as her mind went back to the situation at hand. Truthfully, she was worried. Much more worried than she wanted to admit, nor wanted Jack to see. It was true, she fought in many battles; the better portion of her life was spent in war. There was something about M.E.C.H though, something that always made the back of her head tingle. She wouldn't call it fright, which was reserved for the Decepticons. No, it was more like trepidation, the feeling that you didn't quite understand something, and you should.

There could be a number of reasons for that, one being that they were human. No matter how long she stayed on earth she could never quite comprehend the mindset of it's people.

The other was that this human enemy made a point of keeping everything they could absolutely secret. Now, Arcee knew about discretion, had to practice it every day. She had read the files on them though, and she thought that they almost got a thrill in the secrecy. Almost every message, every letter, was written in the most complex and convoluted code; some of which involved Baltic calligraphy. Only the most mundane of things could even be deciphered, like a grocery list to feed their troops, or an order of saline for their wounded; absolutely nothing useful for the long run. The question always came up.

What were they hiding?

All this combined made for a very cautious and very frustrated femme.

Which is why she didn't complain when Optimus said that she should watch over the Darby's for an undetermined amount of time. No one wanted a repeat of the 'Arachnid incident' as they call it. The same orders were given to Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

So when she was driving to the Darby household later on, both members on her back; she was on full alert. Everyone was silent, having nothing to disrupt the tense atmosphere. It was during this that Arcee noticed the slight static in her vision. Well, so much for Ratchet's rant.

"Hey Jack"

"Yeah"

"How long are these solar flares supposed to last, dang things are messing with my optics."

"From what I heard, they won't stop until later this week. Why, you can't see?" He asked with some concern.

"No, it's just some static, nothing that would hinder me." Arcee assured. Jack just nodded.

"They must be pretty powerful to affect you. I wonder why?"

"It's probably because of the climate. Jasper is rather high up."

"That might be it. Just tell me if it gets any worse Arcee," said June.

"Ok."

With that they reached the house. June opened the garage and everyone went inside. Safe from the sun inside the garage, everything worked well for Arcee. With her scanner she could clearly see Jack and June prepare diner together. They ate, talked and put away dishes before heading to bed. With some reluctance, she too decided to recharge; confident that she would wake up if anything happened.

* * *

"ARCEE!"

"What! What's happened?!" Arcee jumped expecting an ambush, she looked up to simply to see Jack grinning down at her.

"You're going make people think I'm crazy 'Cee, yelling at my bike like I am."

"What's going on? Why'd you shout like that?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes now. You've been spacing out on me. What going on with you?" Jack asked, his grin becoming a concerned smile as he spoke.

"Uhg. I don't know. I just felt really tired all of the sudden."

"All of the sudden? You've been out like a light since I first got out 'Cee. Jeez, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, allot of waiting, there's that."

"Anything more specific?"

"I remember hearing that loud bell that always goes off here."

"Was it a shrill bell, or a deep bell?"

"Deep"

"Ok so you've been asleep for some time after lunch. That's a long time. Do you want me to call one of the guys and see if they can pick us up?"

"No, no I'm good. Just a little tired is all."

"Ok good. Let head home then."

"Got it. By the way, where are the others?"

"Who, Raf and Miko? They left already. I had to stay after class to talk with my teacher about something. I told them to go on ahead. Sorry"

"No problem, let's just go already."

"Ok. By the way, do you mind if I stop at a gas station real quick? Mom asked if I could buy some milk on the way home."

"Sure," and with that they were off.

They ended up stopping at a 7/11 near his home. Arcee parked by the door as Jack went in.

She took the time to look around her. The streets were near empty today besides the occasional car and the odd pedestrian. The day was dry and the sun was blistering, making heat waves in the air; mixed with the red dust of Jasper. She could hear locus in the background, a constant strumming that she did her best to ignore.

Her vision started to static a few times. Jack did say the flares wouldn't stop till later this week. She hoped that later would come soon.

A few minutes passed and she started counting the cars passing by to pass the time.

A few more minutes, she started counting the birds flying.

Then she counted the birds sitting.

…'_It must be a looong line in there'_

Then she counted the people walking...

…Then she counted more people walking…

…

'_What? Are they __milking__ the cow? It would have been faster to go to the grocery store at this point'_

…

…

…

'_There'd better be a long line in there.'_

…

Finally, she had enough. Making sure no one was there to see her; she gave a quick honk to Jack.

…A second went by and she gave another.

Then the unease came. He always responded to the second honk, no matter what.

Carefully, she maneuvered herself in front of the glass doors of the gas station. Passed the open sign and the barrels candy, she received an unhindered view of the perishables in the refrigerated section. It was unhindered; even by a long line which she thought for sure was there. A glance at the counter exposed an unattended cash register. There was no one as far as she could see.

Unease turned to worry. She tried to use her scanner, but as the rest of the day; it was useless. At this point she abandoned all caution and drove right on to the side walk and passed the door.

No one; absolutely no one.

"Jack?"

Silence

"Jack, where are you?!" She shouted this time. She was in a panic now. Her optics scanned left and right, searching for something, anything! It was then that she saw it.

In the corner, attached innocently to the store camera, was a piece of paper. She had to transform to reach it, being careful not to hit her head. She grabbed the paper, trying not to tear anything with her metal hands. Printed carefully on it was a little grey hexagon. It was elongated and pinched at the bottom to look like a shield. In the middle was a large red M.

It was what was underneath, in an equally bright red, was what made her spark drop.

M.E.C.H.


End file.
